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Dominique Baldwin
Dominique Baldwin is a character in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. She is an exorcist sent by the Church and an old friend of Johannes. She is also the game's shopkeeper, stocking on various goods to support Miriam. Official description :"An exorcist dispatched by the church, she supports Miriam as the shopkeeper. She speaks in a posh way, but she treats everyone kindly. While the church believes Miriam and Gebel to be demons, Dominique trusts them as human beings. In order to foil Gebel's ambitions, she asks her old friend Johannes to summon Miriam." Services Dominique has a supply post located near the beginning of Arvantville where the player can either buy or sell any collected items (weapons, armor, consumables, etc.) in exchange of/for gold, as well as being able to sell any extra Shards they desire. After Alfred's death, she will abandon her post, with Anne taking up her shopkeeping duties for the rest of the game. Available services: *'Purchase' *'Sell' *'Sell Shard' Story Dominique first appears in Ritual of the Night when Miriam and Johannes arrive in Arvantville. An old friend of Johannes, she works with the pair in a supporting role, offering aid by selling items. She also offers to buy any excess shards from Miriam on the supposition that Miriam may be adversely affected if she collects too many for her to handle. Dominique has also hired the demon hunter Zangetsu to infiltrate the castle and hunt for the alchemist Alfred. During one of her conversations with Miriam, she reveals that her parents were also exorcists, but they perished in battle when demonic forces first appeared ten years prior to the game's events. Though she offers aid and advice to Miriam as the Shardbinder looks for a way to stop Gebel, Dominique disappears from her shop after Miriam breaks Gremory's hold over Gebel and Gebel dies. Off screen, she confronts Alfred and mortally wounds him, taking the Libre Logaeth for herself. When Miriam finally confronts Dominique, she reveals her true colors. Though she is an exorcist of the Church, her faith in God was shattered by the demon invasion, and in renouncing God, she has chosen to side with the demons. She has also absorbed the power of the shards she had bought off Miriam, and in an attempt to defeat Miriam, enacts a summoning of Bael. Though Dominique merges herself with the powerful demon, she is ultimately defeated and killed. Personality Dominique appears to be a soft-spoken, level-headed, humble, and hospitable individual that provided shelter to Anne and accommodated Miriam’s needs frequently whenever she stopped by her shop during her journey in the demonic castle. True to her background in exorcism, Dominique holds a great deal of empathy for the young shardbinder by advising her not to abuse her powers lest she suffer the same fate as Gebel. This was a way to encourage Miriam to turn to her to dispose of unneeded shards and develop a sense of trust. Dominique was also shown to be bitter toward the demons that were summoned because they were responsible for the deaths of her parents. On the other hand, rather than let her hatred consume her, she decides to avenge them by hunting for the Libre Logaeth herself so it would not be used for evil intent again. Later on, Dominique was revealed to have knowledge of Anne’s dream to become a storekeeper herself so she mentored her on how to look after her shop should she be gone for a prolonged period of time. This indicates that she is supportive of those she deemed worthy. Dominique's true colors began to surface after Gebel was freed from Gremory's influence not long before he succumbed to the Crystal Curse. In reality, she is cold-blooded, prideful, deceptive, avaricious, and dangerously calculating. Although she successfully manipulated her own allies, she was not above backstabbing them if it meant achieving her personal ambitions. This was emphasized when she enlisted Zangetsu's help to hunt down Alfred while Miriam would deal with Gebel not knowing that they were being tricked in the process. Furthermore, she inflicted a mortal wound on Alfred to personally retrieve the Libre Logaeth, but at the cost of the two heroes seeing through her ruse moments before the elderly alchemist passed away. When Miriam finally confronted Dominique over her actions, she denies her treachery by disguising it as gratitude thanks to the shards the former absentmindedly provided to her over the course of her journey and knowledge about the shardbinders' lore that Johannes taught her respectively. Dominique also reveals that the death of her loved ones in addition to feeling abandoned by God left her feeling nihilistic. She actually holds no pity whatsoever for innocent lives as long as their deaths brought her closer to achieving the power she sought out. Dominique's arrogance did, on the other hand, leave her vulnerable to underestimating how fast Miriam would catch on to her real intentions. As a result of this flaw in her character, it turned out to her own undoing despite holding her own against Miriam in battle for so long. Strategy Gallery Dominique_protecting_anne_beta.png Dominique_after_crystalizing_herself.jpg Dominique's_change_of_heart.png Quotes *''And the Church you, Miriam. Thank you for guiding her here, Johannas.'' *''Cease this at once, Zangetsu!'' *''How many times do I have to tell you? Our enemies are the demons and those in league with them?'' *''I want you to know that I trust you, Miriam-and nothing anyone says could ever sway that trust.'' *''What a coincidence. A message arrow just arrived from Zangetsu: "In the temple of rainbow glass, seek the demon carrying a stone statue in tribute."'' *''Is there anything else you need?'' *''Someone has been putting ideas in your head.'' *''I would have preferred you not see that.'' *''All that matters now is that I gain control of the Liber Logaeth and prevent it from being used for evil again.'' *''The gifted ones are always the hardest to manage. So what can I do for you?'' *''What if the lord we grovel and pray before is a lie, and our faith draws power from some other nameless, unspeakable thing? If so, I wash my hands of it. Because God can rot. I decided to seek a higher power. The power to slay gods.'' *''Smart girl. I like that. But your crystal was too clean, too pure. So I made sure you would obtain shards and acclimate yourself to demonic power. Then Gremory could possess you, after the battle with Gebel had worn you down.'' *''No demon is too powerful for me to summon, even if I cannot keep it here forever.'' *''You leave me no choice! Bael, I summon thee to my side!'' Etymology Dominique is derived from the Latin word, Dominicus, which translates to "belonging to a lord". Given her role as the game's true antagonist and her revealed perspective on God, this is likely meant to be ironic. Trivia *Her renunciation of God and her desire for power are likely nods to Mathias Cronqvist, an antagonist in Castlevania: Lament of Innocence that swore off humanity after the death of his wife and became the infamous main villain of the series since then. These qualities in Dominique's character also parallel the titular character of Bram Stoker's novel. **Dominque and Mathias's methods of acquiring power also share similarities, in that they both leach off of the efforts of their respective games' protagonists. Where Dominique absorbs the power of the Shards she acquires from Miriam, Mathias steals the power of a vampire defeated by Lament of Innocence protagonist Leon Belmont. *She shares her surname Baldwin with Morris Baldwin, a vampire hunter from the Castlevania game, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon. This may be intended as a small reference, however, it is also likely that this is coincidental because Baldwin is a well-known family name. *Some of Dominique's core personality traits might be symptoms associated with Munchausen syndrome by proxy due to the way she treated Miriam throughout Ritual of the Night, the amount of time she was spending with the supporting cast, and her relentless preoccupation with gathering power especially Johannas. If that is the case, it is worth noting that the death of her parents had weighed heavily on her enough to contribute to the development of this condition. References *Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon – 100% Achievement Guide External links *Dominique Name Meaning *Bloodstained Ritual of the Night PC Beta Demo Full Playthrough All Secrets and Full Map 720p *GameFAQs Bestiary Guide Page 3 *Dominique Boss Fight Guide on GameWith *Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Final Boss Fight and Ending *Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night | Bridge of Evil Walkthrough Guide *Bloodstained RotN Dominique's Shadiness World's Most Obvious Plot Twist Final Boss and Ending *Bloodstained Ritual of the Night PC Beta Demo Full Playthrough All Secrets and Full Map 720p *COACHMAN | UNIQUE CHARACTER | BLOODSTAINED: RITUAL OF THE NIGHT *Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Zangetsu (David Hayter) Boss Fight fr:Dominique Baldwin Category:Antagonists Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Merchants Category:NPC Category:Ritual of the Night characters Category:Female characters Category:Protagonists Category:Protagonist-Turn-Antagonist Bosses Category:Supporting cast Category:Ritual of the Night bosses